Rovers need injuries to ease up

Tranmere Rovers FanZoner Paul Harper rues the injuries which he fears could ruin his side's chances of promotion from League One this season.

Tranmere Rovers have enjoyed a terrific season so far. We're currently third in the League One table, but have spent most of the campaign in the top two positions, way exceeding our pre-season hopes and expectations.

Ronnie Moore is doing a brilliant job at Prenton Park. He's been back in charge for 12 months now, and he has changed our fortunes dramatically in that period.

He returned to the club after Les Parry's departure and inherited a team lacking confidence and belief. Those features appeared to be instilled by the manager as soon as he took the helm, and we haven't looked back since.

It's only recently that Rovers have been struggling a little bit. We have a small squad and have found it difficult to deal with suspensions and an injury list longer than a giraffe's neck. We've been missing some key players and that has set us back a little bit.

I don't know what we have done to deserve such bad luck with injuries. Captain James Wallace has been missing since the start of December and won't put on a white shirt again this season. He's obviously a big loss to the side as he's a quality player and our leader on the field of play.

We've got about seven or eight of the players who began the season so well for us, missing through either injury or illness. Somewhere, there is someone with a voodoo doll with a Tranmere shirt who is sticking pins in as the next players falls to the curse.

Ronnie spent a good couple of months trying to find a striker to replace Jake Cassidy who returned to Wolves after his loan spell expired. He finally got Mamady Sidibe in from Stoke City, who seems to fit the bill perfectly, but lo and behold, after 60 minutes of his debut last Saturday, he is struck down with a hamstring injury!

Hopefully, our luck with injuries changes soon.

Give credit to the players who have come in to the side, they have done a great job to see us still only two points off top spot. But it would be a huge boost to get the experienced key players back on the pitch as soon as we can.

As it is, I'll keep taking my boots to games just in case Ronnie needs me!